


The Best Time of Year

by midnightskies



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Fluff, M/M, Snow, this is just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 21:49:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightskies/pseuds/midnightskies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>From the beginning, they just knew – or at least, Harry knew. It was always something he’d just known with Louis; he realised it when he figured that he actually couldn’t live without Louis. It wasn’t the clichéd “I can’t live without you” people would say to each other when, two months later, they would be broken up and perfectly happy being single. Harry, on the other hand, thought he might actually have trouble breathing if he couldn’t have Louis by his side. He just didn’t know if he’d ever be able to function properly if Louis wasn’t alive, or if he was living but wasn’t with Harry.</em><br/>Louis had changed his life, Harry couldn't even remember a time before Louis and he definitely couldn't picture a future without him.</p><p> </p><p>Fluffy Christmas fic where Harry is completely lovesick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best Time of Year

**Author's Note:**

  * For [trench](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trench/gifts).



> This is just really short and fluffy, I hope you like it. 
> 
> Also, thanks to my Beta [inmyrosegarden](http://archiveofourown.org/users/inmyrosegarden/pseuds/inmyrosegarden), you guys should check out her fics as well, they're good!
> 
> Follow me on [Tumblr](http://www.fckuniall.tumblr.com), if you'd like.

The whites of the snow dusted the trees lightly as the sun shone through a bedroom window of a lone house in London. Harry and Louis were lying in bed together, sleeping even though it was lunch time. Well, Louis was sleeping; or at least pretending to be, with his stomach pressed against the mattress, the pillow almost suffocating him. Even so, the boy turned his head unconsciously to face Harry – like the magnets they were. 

Harry was awake and facing Louis, running his fingers ever so carefully along his back, tracing patterns onto his skin. He knew that Louis wasn’t sleeping because Louis never smiled in his sleep; endearingly, he slept with his mouth open. He played along anyway, loving the way Louis’ skin felt under his fingers. 

Harry was glad to be home, as the band finally had time off to spend Christmas with their families. Niall had gone back to Mullingar, Liam back to Wolverhampton, and Zayn back to Bradford. Harry and Louis, however, had opted to stay in their house in London together. 

They never could be apart, especially not for the holidays. Louis’ family were having a quiet Christmas and didn’t mind that Louis was staying home—they actually planned on coming down for the Christmas dinner that Harry was cooking, just like Harry’s family. Their families--knowing what a busy year it had been for both boys--decided not to come down earlier. They knew the two boys needed some time to themselves. 

Harry continued tracing patterns on Louis back, smiling to himself as he saw Louis’ eyelashes flutter.

“Love you, too.” Louis whispered sleepily. Harry looked at him, confused. Then he realised that he must have been writing ‘I love you’ unconsciously on Louis’ back. Harry giggled and turned his head to hide his face in his pillow.

After a moment, Harry turned his head back around and looked at Louis. He got up quickly, head spinning, eyes never leaving Louis. He smiled to himself and slowly approached the side of the bed where Louis was lying. He lifted his finger and began poking Louis in the cheek, only for his hand to be slapped away by Louis. Louis tried to move quickly to get as far away from Harry as possible.

“No, come on Lou, it’s your birthday! We can’t stay in bed all day. There are snowballs to throw and cookies to make.” Harry leaned over Louis to blow air in his face only for Louis to pout with his eyes still closed.

“You go and do that. I’ll be sleeping.” 

Harry huffed and left the room, walking towards the kitchen. He needed to make this day special – no, actually, it needed to be perfect. It was Louis’ day and Louis was perfect, so Harry would settle for no less.

He began making the pancakes that he knew Louis loved. Looking out the window for a moment, he saw how much snow had fallen during the night. His face lit up and he stared back down at the pancakes, as though he was almost persuading them to cook faster so he and Louis could go play in the snow.

Once the pancakes had cooked, Harry drowned them in chocolate sauce. He grabbed the cup of tea he made for Louis and placed it, along with the pancakes, on the tray. He then quickly ran out into the lounge to get the present he had for Louis. 

Every day of December, Harry had given Louis a present to lead up to his birthday. Each present was nothing too special or expensive, but Louis loved them anyway. 

Harry grabbed the final gift for Louis’ birthday and headed upstairs with the tray in hand.

He found Louis in the same position he was in when he left him. Shaking his head fondly, he put the tray on the desk and quietly crept over to Louis’ still form.

“Don’t even try. I know you’re there.” 

Harry cursed. He had no idea how Louis heard him; he had been so quiet! Maybe it was when he almost tripped up the stairs and had to grab the wall quickly to stop himself—and the tray—from falling. Yes, Harry decided, it was probably then that Louis heard him.

Harry sighed and brought the tray over to where Louis was. Louis sat up with his back against the headboard and watched as Harry placed the tray on the bed and sat down himself.

“Happy Birthday!” Harry exclaimed. He then pulled a party popper out of his pocket and let it explode confetti. Louis just rolled his eyes fondly and took a sip of his tea.

After Louis had opened his present and eaten the pancakes Harry made for him, Harry dragged Louis from the bed by his hand and pulled him over to the window, making him look out at the snow. Louis laughed as Harry then pushed him over to the wardrobe and started throwing clothes at him. 

“You need to dress up warm, Louis. I wouldn’t want you being cold on your birthday.” He spoke as he continued to throw all of Louis’ clothes at him.

Louis laughed and picked up the clothes, starting to get dressed while waiting for Harry to finish talking so they could go outside. 

Harry continued rambling. “Maybe after we have been out in the snow we can have hot chocolate. Oh Lou, I saw this thing that someone did on Instagram the other day, and it was hot chocolate but they put like cream, marshmallow, and sprinkles, like everything on it! It looked so nice, so I went to the shop and I bought some of the nicest hot chocolate I could find. Oh and Lou, I also bought us a chocolate fountain, I know you love marshmallows dipped in chocolate. I don’t, but you do, so it’s okay. Oh and once we’ve had our hot chocolate we can decorate this Christmas tree, Lou! It’s going to be so perfect.”

Louis just looked on fondly as Harry excitedly spoke while he got dressed.

Once they were both dressed, Harry once again pulled Louis by his hands downstairs so that they could get their boots, hats, scarves and gloves on before braving the cold. 

Harry trying to have a snowball fight with Louis was completely pointless, though. First, Harry was awful at making snowballs so they usually just broke mid-air before reaching Louis. Second, Louis was the master at making snowballs, so he completely beat Harry. And finally, Harry refused to let go of Louis’ hand for one second. 

“I don’t want to let you go on your birthday,” Harry would say. Which was, of course, perfect reasoning in Harry’s mind.

Instead, they decided to take a walk through the snow where Harry happily cuddled into Louis’ side. Louis put his arm around his boy, kissing his head where it was buried into Louis neck. They then found a bench, and once Louis had cleared all the snow off, they sat down. Louis sat with his back against the bench while Harry carefully stretched out with his head in Louis’ lap. Louis draped his arm over Harry’s stomach, like he was protecting his boy.

“’s nice here.” Harry observed quietly, though Louis didn’t know why he was whispering. “Can we just stay here forever?” 

Louis looked down at Harry and smiled sadly. “I wish, Harry. I wish.” 

Louis leaned back and closed his eyes, listening to the deep tone of his boyfriend’s voice talking quietly. 

“No one is around to tell us what to do,” Harry said solemnly. “We can be ourselves.”

Louis agreed completely. He sometimes wished that they could spend more days or weeks like this; _together_. But he supposed that’s what made this time together more special. It was rare, so they cherished it more. Harry clung to his side more and Louis listened to everything Harry had to tell him. Contrary to what he let on, Louis was genuinely interested in every ‘Harry’ story.

After who knows how long, the two decided it was time to head home. Louis could tell it was going to start getting dark soon, and they still needed to decorate the Christmas tree, have hot chocolate and watch at least two Christmas films before heading to bed. Even though Louis was now 22, it didn’t make him anymore mature. 

He dropped Harry’s hand only to have Harry looked at him with wide eyes. “Race you!”

So that’s what they did; they raced home. Harry let Louis win, obviously; with Harry’s long legs he could have won easily. But looking at Louis ahead of him, occasionally turning his head back and laughing delightfully, was just too good to miss.

Louis won and of course, gloated to Harry about it. Harry just shook his head, “Yeah, yeah, I know. You’re amazing Lou.” 

Louis then opened the door to the house, and as soon as they were inside and all their outer layers of clothes and shoes were removed, Harry went to walk into the kitchen. Before he could get very far, Louis grabbed his arm. He spun Harry back towards him and kissed him gently, their cold chapped lips touching ever so lightly.

When Louis pulled back, he saw Harry looking at him with a smile that lit up his whole face. “You get started on the hot chocolate and I’ll go and get the tree decorations.” Harry just nodded gleefully and left to walk toward the kitchen.

By the time Louis had finished carrying the last box of decorations into the lounge, he walked into the kitchen and saw that Harry was putting the finishing touches--sprinkles--to their hot chocolates. Harry looked up at him when he was done and made a gesture that plainly said _Ta da_! Louis clapped then went over and grabbed Harry around the waist from behind, pressing a kiss underneath his ear.

Harry then carried both of their hot chocolates into the lounge – god forbid Harry let Louis do anything on his special day. According to Harry, Louis wasn’t allowed to do anything; he had to relax during their time off. The work they did always seemed to put more of a strain on Louis. Maybe it was because he was always out with Eleanor--not that he didn’t like her. She was lovely, but she wasn’t Harry.

Once they reached the lounge, Louis unceremoniously threw himself onto the sofa while Harry placed the two mugs onto the table. Sitting down next to Louis, he stared at the older boy for a moment.

Louis he was sitting back against the sofa with his head leaning over the back looking up to the ceiling. Harry smiled then placed himself carefully by Louis so that his head was placed on Louis shoulder and his hand holding Louis’ tightly. Louis then brought his other hand—the one Harry wasn’t holding—to place tightly around Harry’s shoulder, causing the younger boy to burrow his way further into Louis’ shirt, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

They sat in silence for a little while before Harry broke the silence and spoke with amusement. “I spoke to Niall the other day. He rung me really worried, and you’ll never guess why he was worried.”

Louis hummed, waiting for Harry to continue with the story.

“So he rings me all panicky and he says, ‘ _Harry mate, I just saw something online and it says that when you fall in love you lose your appetite. That can’t be true can it?_ ’ Lou it was so funny, he was genuinely worried that he would lose his appetite if he fell in love! He didn’t give me a chance to answer the question, he just made his mind up saying that he didn’t want to fall in love if it meant not being hungry! I joked and said that it really happened, that it was really bad and you and I couldn’t eat for days. He started really panicking then, and he hung up the phone before I could tell him it was a joke.”

Louis just looked down at Harry then leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “You are something else, Harry. You’ve probably really scared him.” Louis laughs. “He’s probably looking for a cure online now! If he never gets married you’re taking the blame, not me.” Louis smiles then, poking Harry’s dimple. “That was probably the worst thing you could have told him. I am _so_ proud of you.” 

Harry just looked up at Louis and grinned, his eyes shining. Louis brought his hand from around Harry’s shoulder and ran it down Harry’s cheek. They both leaned forward to bring their lips together.

“I love you.” Harry said, pulling away.

Louis’ face held the biggest smile, and the crinkles appeared by his eyes. “And I love you.”

***

Once they had finished their hot chocolate, Harry decided that it was time they decorated the tree. When Harry got up from the sofa, he pulled Louis up with him, not once letting go of his hand. They were both so delighted that if anyone was watching them decorate their tree they would think they were watching seven years old, not 19 and 22 year old millionaires.

When Louis was placing one of the baubles on the tree, Harry appeared behind him and wrapped him up in tinsel. Louis just pouted until Harry kissed his cheek and unwrapped him.

“But you were the perfect present,” Harry whined. He didn’t really want to unwrap him, but he didn’t like seeing Louis’ upset puppy dog face, so really, he had no choice.

They spent two hours trying to decorate the tree since they kept getting distracted by each other. Once Harry had looked around and made sure that every bauble was placed perfectly on the tree, he nodded his head and turned towards Louis who was holding the star that would go on top of the tree. Louis just looked at Harry expectantly and Harry rolled his eyes. He nodded his head, gesturing for Louis to come closer. When Louis was by him, Harry lifted him up so that Louis could place the star on the tree.

Placing Louis back on the floor gently, Harry wrapped his arms around him from behind and kissed just below Louis’ ear. “Imagine this in a few years’ time. We’ll have our little babies running around, begging for one of us to pick them up so they can place the star on top of the tree,” Harry whispered in Louis’ ear, lips lightly touching the shell of his ear.

Louis turned in Harry’s arms. It was a common topic to discuss, children. That’s not to say that every time it was mentioned by Harry that Louis didn’t go all “ _gooey eyed_ ” as Niall told him. No--no way did Louis get like that. He sighed; he just couldn’t help it--having Harry talk about their future like that made him so happy. Knowing that one day he and Harry are going to be married with children someday made everything worthwhile. 

Louis felt his heart soar every time he thought about it. They weren’t married now, like some fans thought they were. They weren’t engaged either, but they weren’t not engaged. Marriage was something that they would always just drop into conversation. It was usually pillow talk, something that one would just pop out with, “Would I take your name or would you take mine?” Or, “I saw this lovely flower arrangement earlier when I went out. I thought it would be perfect for our wedding.”

Even the boys were confused as to whether they were engaged or not. It’s not something that they had ever thought about having to ask. They would always talk about it so it just seemed like they had already mutually agreed that they were going to get married. 

From the beginning, they just knew – or at least, Harry knew. It was always something he’d just known with Louis; he realised it when he figured that he actually couldn’t live without Louis. It wasn’t the clichéd “ _I can’t live without you_ ” people would say to each other when, two months later, they would be broken up and perfectly happy being single. Harry, on the other hand, thought he might actually have trouble breathing if he couldn’t have Louis by his side. He just didn’t know if he’d ever be able to function properly if Louis wasn’t alive, or if he was living but wasn’t with Harry. 

Louis had changed his life, Harry couldn't even remember a time before Louis and he definitely couldn't picture a future without him.

***

Waking up Christmas morning had always been Harry and Louis’ favourite thing to do, even when they were both little. Waking up together seemed different though; waking up with the one you love beside you--no matter how sappy it sounded--was a lot nicer. 

Despite both boys knowing there were stacks of presents for them downstairs, they lay in bed for a little while longer, sharing good morning kisses and tired smiles, whispering about how different it would be when they would have children who would be so excited they would wake them up at 6 AM. 

When they finally made it downstairs, Louis had dressed in his boxers and Harry’s _Hipsta please_ shirt which he had taken it from Harry’s wardrobe and decided never to give back. He was far too comfortable in it to ever want to give it back to Harry, but Harry didn’t mind; he quite liked seeing Louis in his clothes. Harry was wearing his boxers and a plain t-shirt of his own, watching Louis walk into the lounge like an excited puppy.

Sitting on the sofa together, they slowly opened their presents while sharing a kiss or a hug for thanks after each present they received from the other. Once all of the presents were open, Harry stood up and started cooking dinner. They both then went upstairs to shower, getting dressed and preparing for their guests. As soon as they were ready, Louis quickly dragged Harry by his hand back down the stairs into the kitchen so that they could bake Christmas cookies.

Louis tried his hardest to impress Harry with how he made Christmas cookies, but having Harry standing right behind him peering over his shoulder was a bit intimidating. He couldn’t help but feel like Harry was judging every move he would make. Harry must have sensed his unease as he kissed Louis on the back of the head and brought his hands up around Louis waist and placed them over Louis’. Together they made the cookies, almost like they were the same person. They didn’t let go of each other for a second. Harry loved it; he felt so close to Louis, and Louis was doing a perfect job making the cookies.

Once the cookies were in the oven, the two went back to the sofa and lounged there, staring at each other for a while. They would exchange slow kisses and happy smiles, while linking their fingers. Harry’s thumb would rub over Louis’ knuckles while the two enjoyed each other’s company. Sometimes, they would imagine their future; their life together in ten years’ time. 

Harry couldn’t hide the grin from his face, just thinking about his future with Louis. It was going to be everything he had ever dreamed of.

After a while, Harry got up and went to check on the food with Louis trailing behind him. Once in the kitchen, Harry adjusted the stove and assured that the food was cooking perfectly fine. He pressed Louis’ back up against the counter and brought their lips together. Everything was perfect; Harry couldn’t describe the feeling in any other way, knowing that these odd days together were treasured greatly. 

Harry brought up his hands and wrapped them around Louis waist, pressing them even closer together. Harry felt Louis smile against his lips, and he let out a quiet laugh--or at least he tried to. Louis started running his hands through Harry’s hair, messing up his curls even more than they already were. When they pulled away Louis and Harry smiled widely at each other, the crinkles by Louis’ eyes becoming more prominent. So much so, that Harry just couldn’t resist kissing them. Louis let out a laugh and playfully pushed Harry’s shoulder.

Before either of them knew it, the doorbell was ringing and Louis’ sisters were running right at them, attacking them with hugs. Harry told them to have a seat in the lounge so they could wait for their presents. The two boys then greeted Louis’ mum, giving her hugs and kisses. Harry then went into the lounge to see the girls while Louis waited, talking with him mum in the hall. Harry took down next to the twins and started listening intently to their story of Christmas morning.

Once everyone was seated, Louis and Harry handed out presents. After they received hugs and _thank yous_ , the doorbell rang again, indicating Harry’s family arrival. 

Again they went through the greetings and the exchanging of presents. When everyone had gotten a chance to catch up, Harry called everyone to the dining hall for dinner. They all sat down at the table with Harry and Louis sitting next to each other. They slyly held each other’s hands under the table while struggling to eat one handed. Once the had decided that it was too difficult to each with only one hand, Louis reluctantly let go of Harry’s hand and patted him on the thigh while smiling at him.

Dinner was a fun affair, with Harry laughing loudly at every joke that was shared. Everyone complimented Harry on the cooking and Louis on the baking once the adults had moved into the kitchen for some wine. 

Taking their glasses, the adults joined the children in the lounge once more, chatting amongst themselves while a Christmas film played on the TV for the girls. Harry found was his favourite time of the year; it was a time for families and Harry couldn’t wait to spend many more Christmases with Louis.

He leaned up from where he was cuddled up against Louis’ side and whispered in Louis’ ear, “Imagine what it’s going to be like when we have more family. When we have some of our children are running around the place and putting out cookies out for Santa, waking us up early in the morning, celebrating your birthday. Honestly Lou, I can’t wait.” 

Louis smiled back at Harry then kissed his lips lightly, taking Harry’s hand in his own. He used his other arm that was placed around Harry’s shoulder to pull Harry tighter to his chest. “Me neither Harry. Me neither,” Louis whispered with a smile on his lips, as though it was just a secret between the two of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for prompt : 'Holiday cliche goodness! Decorating the tree (or lighting the menorah, whatever floats your boat), baking cookies, snuggling up in front of the fire with snow piling up outside, things like that. And maybe a bit of Louis' birthday too, seeing as it's on Christmas Eve, but that's completely an optional side note. Basically, a lot of fluff and fuzzy feelings, please. It doesn't even have to have a plot, just cuddles and hand holding.'
> 
> Well I hope you liked it, feedback would be greatly appreciated.


End file.
